Electronic components and systems operate at faster speeds. These and other developments, such as processors with one or more cores, may provide better performance, decrease size and weight of components, and increase density of components. These factors may increase the heat generated by electronic components and the systems in which they reside. This may be particularly true in mobile devices or small computing environments, where these factors can lead to overheating, which can negatively affect performance, user performance and significantly reduce battery life.
Cooling of electronic components (or circuits) may be achieved by moving heat away from an electronic component, such as a chip, via a heat spreader and a heat sink and then cooling the heat sink through forced convection (i.e., a fan). However, this may be difficult as components scale down and cooling requirements become more stringent. Additionally, fans and heat sinks may not be available for use with mobile internet devices (MIDs).